Month: August 2006

THE fight for the reinstigation of the Western Rail Corridor could be won before the end of the month as a major Government statement on the matter is expected within the next two weeks.

The corridor, which will connect Ennis to Athenry and Galway City and eventually extend as far north as Collooney in Sligo, was approved in principal at a cabinet meeting two weeks ago.

A concrete Government announcement on the corridor is now expected before September, with the Ennis to Athenry section of the line likely to be the first to get the official green light. The corridor has been earmarked as a priority by the Government ahead of next year’s election.

The project has been gathering pace in recent times, thanks mainly to the work of pressure groups such as West on Track, culminating in a proposal to reinstigate the line being submitted to the Department of Transport by CIE in June.

“Like the rest of the country, we are just waiting to see what the Government will do next,” a spokesperson from West on Track told The Clare People yesterday. “We need to get this under construction sooner rather than later.”

Should the project get the final Government go-ahead later this month, works could begin on the line before the end of this year.

The re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor is one of the commitments made by the government under the Transport 21 programme.

The section of the track from Ennis as far as Claremorris is expected to cost in the region of €170 million, while the final section, from Claremorris to Sligo, would cost up to €200 million.

A new rail network linking Shannon Airport to a restored rail corridor has also been muted. It is expected that, on its completion, the rail corridor would cater for an initial 750 commuters a day, with this figure increasing substantially if a link to Shannon Airport was created.

AN Ennis restaurant was ordered to close its doors last month after breaching food safety legislation.

The Food Safety Authority (FSA) last week announced that O’Connors Restaurant, 10 Merchant Square, Ennis, was one of a number of food businesses in Ireland which environmental health officers served with closure orders during July. The restaurant was closed down on July 7 and the order was lifted on July 13.

Closure Orders were also served in the HSE Western Region on Jack Bans Take Away, Main Street, Kilcar, Donegal. Veterinary inspectors in Cavan County Council served closure orders on Mr Desmond Keyes, Mullanacre Lower, Ballyconnell, Cavan and Mr John D Keyes, Droghill, Belturbet, Cavan for the operation of unofficial slaughterhouses. A closure order was also served on Peng Lai Chinese Grocery, 101 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. The penalties were handed down for breaches of food safety legislation pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998.

Peter Whelan of the FSA said high temperatures and staffing levels make summer a particularly problematic time of the year for the food business.

“This time of the year is particularly bad when you consider that the temperature is higher and you have more people with increased numbers of tourists and greater volumes of food being produced. In some cases, you have casual workers – who might not be familiar with food controls and procedures – being hired.”

He urged those involved in the food industry to take “a common sense approach to food safety” and follow correct hygiene and storage procedures.

GARDAÍ are treating as suspicious the discovery of a man’s body in a caravan park close to Kinvara early yesterday (Monday).

The alarm was raised at around 5.30am, when gardaí and fire crews were alerted to a burnt out caravan, just 100 metres from Kinvara, on the Ballyvaughan road.

The caravan was engulfed in flames and the body of a man was discovered, after the fire was brought under control.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy carried out a preliminary examination at the scene and the body was removed to hospital in Galway, for a post mortem examination. Members of the Scenes of Crime Unit carried out an examination of the scene throughout the day.

Several other caravans and tents were located in the immediate vicinity, some of which were occupied by holiday-makers, but no-one else was injured in the blaze.

“At this stage we are treating the death as suspicious and we are trying to identify the body,” said a garda spokesman, who said the cause of the incident was not yet known.

This is the second time a body was discovered in similar circumstances in the South Galway area, during the past 16 months. The body of Emer O’Loughlin (23) was found in a burnt out caravan near Tubber, on the Clare/Galway border in April 2005. No-one has been held accountable for the Ennistymon woman’s death.

POSTAL workers in Clare have described the company’s delivery vans as “moving death traps”.

They expressed concern for the An Post fleet’s road worthiness and safety, and say the company fleet is in “serious decline”. Delivery staff have claimed that they are regularly expected to drive vans which are unsafe, an assertion which has been vehemently refuted by An Post.

The matter was discussed at the recent AGM of the Communications Workers’ Union in Clare where delegates were told, “The transport system in the company seems to be in serious decline. Many post persons are still using defective or non-roadworthy vehicles. All drivers have been advised not to use these vehicles and to report same to the supervisor of transport department.”

But according to An Post, “there is no safety issue with our vehicles. These claims are completely unfounded and there is no question of anyone being asked to drive a vehicle which is not roadworthy. We have strict guidelines and safety procedures and the health and safety of our workers is our primary concern.”

Workers also claim a large number of vehicles being used are hired from a van rental company without company colours or branding. An Post counters, “With a fleet the size of ours, there will be some vehicles off the road for maintenance or repairs and they have to be replaced. Only a small portion of vehicles are off the road at any time.”

Some postal workers in Clare have been driving white or silver rental vans for several months and claim that the company is not interested in replacing their vehicles.

“Some rented vans in Clare have been replaced in recent months with newer company branded vans but there are still quite a few drivers who have been without a company van for up to 12 months,” staff say. “Another big issue we have is that elderly people in more rural areas are used to seeing the green van coming and are suspicious of the white vans.”

Postal workers believe there is no reason older vans can’t be replaced quicker, claiming that there are dozens of new An Post vans sitting in a compound near Rosslare Port.

“All we want is vehicles which won’t break down or worse. A huge number of new vans are sitting in a yard in Rosslare when they could be on the road,” workers say.

A WEEK after one Clare hotelier claimed that the tourism industry in the county needs to “fight back”, a second local hotel empire has noted the lack of an increase in tourist numbers during the past two months.

Last week the Central Statistics Office released figures that showed domestic holidaymakers were opting for Dublin at the expense of Clare and other west of Ireland counties.

This week the CSO said the number of foreign visitors to Ireland increased by 14 per cent during the first five

months of this year, compared to the same period last year. However, Paddy Maher, development and marketing manager with the Atlantis Holiday Group, said this increase did not continue into the summer months.

“The good start to the year has not been sustained through the summer months,” he said. “While there was a surge in business over the June Bank Holiday, I do not regard this year’s tourism numbers to be any improvement on previous years.

“The overall increase in overseas visitors has been no real benefit to regional tourism, where visitor numbers have remained static at best.”

According to the CSO, trips from Britain were up almost 13 per cent, mainland Europe 23 per cent and North America 3.7 per cent.

“I welcome this increase in total visitor numbers. However, it must be noted that visitors are increasingly staying for shorter periods of time. These shorter breaks and the concentration of numbers along the eastern seaboard is having knock-on effects for total revenue,” Mr Maher said.

Meanwhile, the Clare Tourism Forum has received an upsurge in enquiries relating to the county, arising out of a promotional campaign it launched a few weeks ago. The national campaign is a collaborative approach to attracting greater visitor numbers to Clare.

From July 1 to 18, enquiries to the Ennis Tourist Office were up 133 per cent on the entire month of June. And public reaction to the promotional campaign has been described as “very encouraging” by David Collins, Clare Tourism Forum member and Group Marketing Director with Lynch Hotels. Other local tourism interests are planning to promote the county at the 20th annual US Milwaukee Irish Fest, which attracts more than 130,000 people.

Shannon Development, Clare County Council, Kilrush Town Council, the Mayor of Clare, and representatives from the County Clare tourism industry, are gearing up to promote Clare as a tourist destination from August 17 to 20 in the US town.

AFTER only a year in existence, The Clare People newspaper is about to significantly increase its operation with the launch of a second title which will commence publication in September.

The Clare People Weekender , will be published every Friday and distributed free, door-to-door, to more than 25,000 homes throughout county Clare.

The Weekender will concentrate on the social and entertainment scene which will allow it to complement the breaking news and sports content of the paid-for Tuesday publication.

Commenting on the decision to launch the new publication, company chairman Dómhnal Slattery said that it would considerably expand the media space in Clare where the recent census showed a population growth to 110,800.

“With current ABC figures of more than 10,000 for The Clare People each Tuesday, combined with a freesheet circulation of 25,000 on Friday, we will have the potential to deliver almost 100,000 readers to our rapidly expanding advertising base,” he said.

“The feedback from readers and advertisers alike indicate that this is a compelling combination.”

According to managing editor, Gerry Collison, The Clare People Weekender is a logical extension of that strategy and should add significant value to The Clare People brand.

The newspaper has assembled a team of top-rank journalists which will be further strengthened over the coming weeks by the recruitment of PPAI and McNamee award-winning photographer, Eamon Ward.

The Clare People is Ireland’s fastest growing regional newspaper.

Its first anniversary edition on June 27 sold more than 15,000 copies, demonstrating the strength of its growing franchise in the Clare media market.

Key demographics for Clare indicate that it is one of the fastest growing and most affluent markets in the country and The Clare People ’s commercial priority was to provide the most cost-effective advertising vehicle for businesses to reach that lucrative market.

FEARS were expressed yesterday for the long-term future of the core of Ennis, after census figures show that the town’s urban population has dropped by nearly 20 per cent in the past 10 years.

According to the most recent figures, the town’s core urban population now stands at 5,917, compared to 7,163 a decade ago. And in the past four years, the town’s urban population has declined by six per cent.

The drop in core population has coincided with a drift to the fringes, resulting in the town’s overall population increasing from 18,830 to 20,234 – an increase of 7.5 per cent.

The publication of the census coincides with business interests lodging plans for retail parks on the periphery of Ennis, where the anticipated turnover is put at €54 million. In response to the figures, Green Party councillor Brian Meaney yesterday warned of the ‘doughnut effect’ taking hold in Ennis.

“This is a phenomenon commonly seen in the US and the UK where town centres have died as a result of concentrating on the periphery, where the car is king. This is already happening in Ennis,” he said.

“These figures are in part due to families getting older and the children building on the outskirts of Ennis, but it also raises a fundamental point about the development of our town. I would be concerned as well from an economic point of view that the various retail parks would have an adverse impact on Ennis town centre.”

Cllr Meaney said the figures emphasise the need to retain and expand core services within the town, rather than on the outskirts.

According to Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind), these figures reinforce the argument for an extension to the current Ennis Town Council boundary. The last extension was made more than 20 years ago.

Cllr Brennan said, “There is very little land left in which to build within the town boundary and people looking to build outside are being refused due to the ‘non-local rule’.”

Chief executive of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney, said that the population figures in relation to Ennis town centre can be seen as a positive as more space is being given to commercial development in favour of residential development.

She said, “It is important that a balance is struck. Ennis is thriving, but it is also at a crossroads in terms of the level of development and where it will be allowed.”

A YOUNG west Clare man has claimed that a submission made on his planning application by the environmental watchdog An Taisce was untrue.

Stephen Considine, a native of Doonbeg, applied for planning permission on October 10 last to build a bungalow in Lislanaha, located between Bansha and Kilkee.

The 23-year-old said that he planned to build the house on the site given to him by his uncle.

However, an observation made by An Taisce, dated November 25, stated that “the development is not on any family land”, a statement that has been described by the applicant as totally untrue.

Writing on behalf of the Clare association of An Taisce, Anny Wise stated in the observation that, “The landowner is involved in a number of commercial developments and we feel that this may be such a case.”

This statement was also a cause of consternation to Mr Considine who said his uncle, the landowner, was retired. He said while his uncle worked on the buildings in England and Ireland, he did not own the companies and had never been a developer.

When contacted by The Clare People, Mrs Wise said she did not comment on individual cases but added, “we are not a decision-making authority”.

When asked about the factuality of An Taisce submissions, she said the local planning authority “are very good at checking facts.”

Meanwhile, Mr Considine feared that Clare County Council was taking as fact all of An Taisce’s submission.

“It angers me that this could be taken into consideration and, if the council say it is not, then why are they bothering with An Taisce at all?” he said.

Further observations made by An Taisce in reference to Mr Considine’s application included the submission that the development was along the main road and would encourage ribbon development “in what is a scattered community and is out of character.”

The west Clare man argued that the site was on a secondary road. An Taisce also stated that the proposed design was not in “keeping with the landscape” and the “water management may not be adequate for a four-bedroom en-suite dwelling.”

An Taisce also pointed out that the applicant was working in Shannon.

Mr Considine confirmed he was working in Shannon but the planning application was for what he hoped would be his family home and “it was not for resale”.

He withdrew the application on June 27 to reconsider the exact location of the house.

WELL-heeled and middle-income people are now coming in increasing numbers for money advice after running up crippling debts through overspending.

The service originally set up to help those living on the breadline to manage their money is now seeing well-off people in increasing numbers.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is warning people against availing of easy finance and letting their spending get out of control.

Spokesman Paul Woulfe said, “In the start, the people we were seeing were on low incomes and often we would contact creditors for them if they are in trouble. Now, more often than not, the people we see are middle income and high earners. They are increasingly coming to us after borrowing way more than they can afford to pay back. It’s because credit has become so easy to get,” said Paul.

The MABS spokesman said that even those on good incomes are getting caught in the debt trap.

“They borrow for cars, they borrow for holidays, they spend on their credit cars and they take personal loans. It just gets out of control,” he said.

The warning came as a Shannon company revealed the results of a survey which shows that couples are borrowing in excess of €10,000 on average to fund the cost of their wedding.

An internal study conducted by GE Money has revealed that brides are willing to borrow €10,450 on average to ensure that they have their perfect day.

The overall number of wedding loans is up on corresponding years, GE found.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Eoin Lynam, Marketing Director at GE Money said, “We have seen an increase in the number of Clare people applying for personal loans to finance their wedding especially in the last five years. While this is a big change from the old days when it was assumed that the bride’s father would pay for the do, it makes much more sense than simply sticking it on a credit card at 15 per cent when you can get a rate as low as 8.2 per cent with a personal loan.”

Woulfe said that, while many couples may be able to afford to take out loans, they should think carefully before going into debt.

“People have be realistic and look at whether they can afford the repayments. If they can, well and good but being in debt that you can’t repay is very stressful so we would say, be realistic.”

THE demand for hands-free kits has soared in Clare, as drivers take heed of the new law which bans the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving.

According to retailers in the county, thousands of car owners who wish to talk and drive at the same time are paying for new car kits.

Gardaí are advising drivers that failure to obey the law will result in them being summonsed to court, while penalty points will be issued for the offence from September.

Phone companies in Clare say drivers are willing to pay for the kits.

Mary Purtill of 3G Mobile Phones in Ennis said there has been a significant increase in demand in recent weeks.

“There has been a huge increase in demand for all kinds of handsfree kits, since the new law came into place,” she said.

3G charges €39 for a bluetooth headset, if users have the bluetooth option on their mobiles. It costs €250 to install a hands-free kit, while O2 are currently offering handsfree kits for €99, on a special offer.

RD Mobiles Manager Ronan Daly said the demand for handsfree kits had doubled over the past few weeks.

“Because of the new legislation, people are becoming aware that it is necessary to have a hands-free system in the car, in order to talk and drive,” he said.

RD Mobiles install car kits within 24 hours, at a cost of €250. “However, there are less expensive options, including the plug-and-play option, from Nokia, where the phone is plugged into the cigarette lighter, at a cost of €79,” said Mr Daly.

Bluetooth headsets cost between €59 and €79 at RD Mobiles.

“The demand has doubled over the past couple of months, as people have been preparing for the new legislation. One in five customers are asking about it and one in 10 carry it out,” he added.

Darren Stamp of DPS Communications said the new law means it is not just business people who are purchasing hands-free car kits.

“Even a couple of days after the legislation was brought in, there was a big change. Previously, people who drove a lot for business bought kits; now everyone is buying them,” he said.

His company charges from €240 for hands-free kits, while the ‘plugand-go’ option costs €79.

All of the companies fit the kits at no extra cost.